Brown bean salad with Chickpea salad

Brown bean salad
200g brown beans, soaked overnight, drained, rinsed and drained again
1tsp salt
5tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 garlic clove
3-4 tbsp lemon juice
Juice o 1 small orange, or 2-3 Seville oranges (in season)
3tbsp chopped parsley, or coriander
½ tsp paprika (optional)
Place the beans in a pan with 1 pint of water. Add ¾ tsp salt and ½ tbsp oil and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to low, civer and simmer for about 40-45 min or until the beans are very tender.
Meanwhile, in a bowl pound the garlic and the remaining salt with a pestle until smooth. Add the beans, with the reduced liquid, and stir well, mashing some of the beans lightly to coat them with the garlic. Add the lemon and orange juices, stir and top with the remaining oil. Sprinkle with the parsley or coriander, and the paprika if using.

Prepare half of the amount of chickpea salad, and place on top of the brown bean salad


Chickpea salad
225g chick-peas, soaked overnight, drained and rinsed
1 garlic clove, crushed
1tsp salt or to taste
½ tbsp tahini (optional)
½-1 tbsp lemon juice
3-4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, or to taste
1tsp ground cumin
Place chick peas in a medium pan and cover with 1 inch of water. Bring to a boil over medium high heat, skimming the foam from the surface of the water. Reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer until the chickpeas are very soft, about 2 hours. Check the water level at intervals, taste a chickpea, and if necessary add hot water. Drain the chickpeas, reserving a few tbsp of the cooking liquid
Meanwhile, in a serving bowl pound the garlic and salt with a pestle till creamy. Add the tahini if using, and the lemon juice. Stir in the reduced cooking liquidand the chickpeas, crushing some of them lightly. Drizzle the oil over and toss. Season with cumin.

Serve with Lebanese bread, spring onions, and watercress

These two bean dishes go really well together. On their own, each one was very nice, but together they are even better. One of those cases of the whole being greater then the sum of it’s parts. The flavors work well together, but the textures do too. The chickpeas have less liquid then the more soup-y brown beans (by the way, I couldn’t find brown beans, so I used Pinto beans instead), together they are really hearty.

The beans take a long time to cook, but I cooked them in advance, and then just heated them up when it came time to make the dish. That worked really well. It turns this into a dish that can be made in minutes.

This was another from New Flavours of the Lebanese Table , and it was a wonderful thing to do with beans.